NYC employees’ pension divests from gun companies

NEW YORK (AP) – The pension fund for New York City employees has sold all stock it held in gun and ammunition companies.

City Comptroller John Liu (loo) made the announcement about the New York City Employees’ Retirement System on Wednesday. The move follows a similar one in February by the pension for city teachers.

The decision to sell the stocks came after recent incidents of gun violence including the Connecticut school shooting that left 20 first-graders and six staffers dead.

Liu said the fund divested its holdings in five companies, including Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. and Sturm, Ruger & Co. The value of the holdings was more than $16 million dollars as of April 23, the date of the vote to sell off the stocks.

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